


First Nice Day of The Year

by teddymclupin



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Established Relationship, Marauders Friendship, Marauders' Era, Multi, Remus Lupin & Lily Evans Potter Friendship, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-27
Updated: 2018-07-27
Packaged: 2019-06-17 05:31:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15454383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teddymclupin/pseuds/teddymclupin
Summary: On the first nice day of the year, the Marauders and Lily take advantage of the weather by sitting out at Black Lake. While thoughts of living on their own, N.E.W.T.s, and the war surround them, they ignore everything for a while and enjoy the sun.---Extended drabble with a focus on Remus and Lily's friendship. Doesn't really have a plot, just wanted to write down this little headcanon and it ended up longer than I expected.





	First Nice Day of The Year

Remus leaned his head back, his eyes squinting in reaction to the direct rays of sunlight reaching his face. He closed his eyes fully and relaxed into the warmth of the sun. He and Lily were sitting in the green overlooking Black Lake, while the rest of the Marauders played near the water.

It was one of the first truly nice days of the year, and after a particularly bad winter, everyone was eager to enjoy the beautiful weather. Students were noticeably cheerier, and even the grumpiest of professors seemed to be in higher spirits. More students than usual roamed the grounds as the particularly kind professors cancelled afternoon classes.

While Flitwick hadn’t completely cancelled his seventh year charms class, he only kept his students in for a few minutes to pass back their graded rough drafts. Most students promptly shoved their papers into their bags and headed outside, but Lily nearly had to be dragged out of the castle as she read Flitwick’s comments. Almost fifteen minutes later she was still reading his comments aloud and determining whether she agreed with any of his critiques.

“And look, he said that I didn’t support why a colour change charm was needed when clearly – Remus, you’re not even listening to me!”

Remus turned and opened his eyes to see Lily watching him with an exasperated look on her face. Her arm was outstretched, holding her essay towards him. Glancing at it, he noticed it was the only mark on the page besides the check marks indicating she had made a good point.

“C’mon Lil, put the essay away, it’s beautiful out,” he said, returning to his previous position. “Enjoy it.”

She huffed defeatedly and began opening her bag to put it away. “It’s not like exams are coming up or anything,” she muttered, stretching her legs in front of her and leaning back to match Remus’ position.

“Don’t remind me.”

He really meant it. If he thought about exams long enough he would begin to feel sick, knowing that the rest of his life could be determined by his N.E.W.T. grades. He knew he had to achieve top marks to prove that his lycanthropy didn’t put him at a disadvantage.

Before they could dwell too long on the topic, a yell bellowed from the shores of the lake. 

“Sirius, stop!” 

Remus and Lily looked down to see Peter running from what appeared to be a crab charmed to be the size of a cat. Meanwhile, Sirius was hunched over laughing and James was using a stick to herd the creature closer to Peter.

“Sirius, please! Change it back!” Peter begged as the creature cornered him between a large rock and the water. Lily and Remus watched on with anticipation as the crab opened and closed its claws, ready to attack at any moment. Remus had often thought that if McGonagall had skipped enlargement charms it would have saved the students and creatures of Hogwarts loads of trouble (and the Marauders would have significantly fewer detentions under their belt).

“Only if you tell us every detail of your date when you get back tonight,” Sirius yelled in response once he caught his breath from laughing. Remus shook his head at Sirius’ request. He and James were on a mission to get Peter laid before graduation, and Peter, normally a very private boy, was refusing to share what happened on his dates so his friends could diagnose what he was doing wrong. James and Sirius had all the best intentions for their friend, but Remus figured they probably shouldn’t force Peter to share intimate details of his escapades.

“Okay, okay – just – _please_!” Peter squealed as the crab got within pinching distance. 

Before the crab could take another step forward, James picked up it up by a leg and tossed it far into the lake, relieving Peter of his horror. Unfortunately before the crab hit the surface of the water, the great squid launched out of the lake, flipping several of its tentacles back to expose its open beak. A collective gasp from onlookers could be heard as the squid caught the crab in its mouth and instantly dived back into the water before anyone could fully process what they just saw. Remus and Lily looked on dumbfounded by what happened to the poor crustacean. 

James slowly turned to find that everyone in the surrounding area had seen what he had done. ' _The head boy sacrificed an innocent animal to a hungry underwater beast for the sake of entertainment.'_ Remus and Lily watched on as he struggled to find the words to explain his actions. 

“I – I didn’t mean to do that!” he announced loudly to the onlookers. He shot a glance towards Lily, who just shook her head in disapproval, trying her hardest to suppress a laugh. 

Sirius was the first to release a laugh at what had just happened. Soon enough, the rest of the students in the area let out a chuckle at the situation. It was unfortunate what happened to the crab, but the squid had to eat something, didn’t it?

“They’re awful,” Lily said to Remus, a smile finally making its way onto her face. 

They continued to watch the boys as they tried to move on to a less dangerous activity. Sirius and James began skipping stones into the lake while Peter resorted to looking for interesting rocks or shells, already knowing that he was shit at skipping stones.

“At least you don’t have to live with them,” Remus remarked jokingly.

“Well, your suffering is coming to an end soon.” Somehow her tone was both jovial and dismal. Remus could tell she was just as nervous to leave Hogwarts as he was. The air between them stayed quiet for a moment before Remus responded.

“Are you still living with the girls after graduation?”

“Yeah, still don’t know where though. And you’re…?”

“Going back with mum. Since she’s ill and alone… It’s probably better that I’m there anyway, you know?” 

Remus knew Lily understood. It was dangerous for muggles to live with knowledge of the wizarding world, and he felt better knowing he could be there to protect his mother even in her declining health. Ever since his parents separated a few years ago, he worried about her, but especially in recent months as the attacks on muggles became more frequent and it became apparent that she wouldn’t recover from her illness. He looked down at the charmed handkerchief they were sitting on and began fiddling with a loose thread as thoughts about his mum began spiraling through his head. 

“I’m sorry Remus,” Lily offered. She placed her hand on top of his to stop his fidgeting. He looked up and they exchanged knowing expressions before looking out at the boys again. 

They watched them for a few minutes in silence before Remus tried to lighten the heavy mood with a new topic. “How’re you and James?”

“We’re great,” she replied, smiling as she watched the boy in question jog to Peter to look at whatever he was holding in his palm. “He sends me notes you know,” she said, peeling her eyes off of him to face Remus.

“Notes? Like sappy ones?”

She nodded with a mischievous smile and reached over to her bag to retrieve one. Once she found it she unfolded the parchment and handed it to Remus to read. Doodles of flowers that magically bloomed and hearts that swelled and burst lined the border of the parchment. Remus had never seen such endearing doodles in James’ characteristic style.

“My dearest, most lovely, Lily,” Remus read aloud. “I miss your sweet smile and your golden laugh brought upon by my ingenious remarks.” He paused to look at Lily and roll his eyes. After nearly seven years James’ ego continued to amaze him. “I count the minutes until we see each other again and I can breathe your name as we – Lily, this is indecent!” Remus shrieked as he continued reading it to himself in both horror and awe. Lily laughed and plucked it from his hands before he could finish it. “He’s gone mad, I swear,” he laughed as she put it away. He had never seen James swoon for a girl as much as he had with Lily. Even eight months into their relationship, he was still as mad about her as he was after their first official date.

Again bringing his attention back to the boys, he saw that they were now ankle deep in the lake, attempting to kick water at each other. 

“And Sirius?” Lily asked, eyes still on the boys. She was the only one who knew about their relationship. She had helped him talk through his feelings for Sirius in fifth year and encouraged him to make a move. Since then, she had heard nearly (emphasis on nearly) every detail about what happened between the two. 

“He’s good.” He could feel his cheeks warming at the thought of what they had been doing just a few hours before during their free period. “He’s really good. But no love letters, so I might get onto him about that.”

“You really should.” Lily smiled. 

They could see Hagrid approaching the boys at the lake and begin a conversation. As the group began chatting James pointed up to Remus and Lily, and Hagrid offered a smile and wave when he caught their eye. They returned the gesture, but stayed seated, not wanting to leave their spot in the grass.

“Listen, can I ask you something?” Lily said quietly, turning towards Remus. “You have to promise not to look at me like I’m crazy, though.”

Remus was taken aback at her serious tone. Merlin, he hoped she wasn’t pregnant. 

“I – okay, I promise.”

“Is there anything you and Sirius do together to spice things up?” she asked, barely above a whisper.

Remus stared at her, waiting for her to tell him she was kidding. When he realized she was being serious he leaned back and laughed, relieved but shocked at her inquiry. The absurdity of it! The question itself of course, but coming from  _Lily_! She was known to be a firecracker among her friends, so Remus could only imagine what she was like with Prongs. And the concept that James could somehow need spicing up in his relationship  _with Lily,_  as though he could grow  _bored_  of her!

“Do you actually think James is disinterested in you?” he said finally, a wide grin still on his face.

“That’s not what I asked.”

Remus rolled his eyes and sunk down, propping his weight on his forearms. He thought about the question for a moment before replying.

“I don’t think we do anything particularly  _spicy_.” He shrugged, knowing his answer wasn’t very helpful. It was true though. He and Sirius had a perfectly happy love life together, but their moments alone were few and far between. This led to them taking the opportunities to get off when they could, with little time to plan anything extravagant. He tried again, hoping to explain what he meant. “But we don’t often get time alone, so when we do, we… take advantage of it.” 

Lily didn’t reply. Instead, she plucked a few blades of grass from besides her and began tearing them into tiny pieces. He could tell she was mulling over something.

“What’s wrong? You said things were great between you two. Why do you think you need spicing up?” Remus asked, his tone more sincere than before.

Lily sighed before she began, “I’m just worried about what will happen when we leave Hogwarts and start living our lives. I’m afraid I’ll be out of sight, out of mind.” She continued tearing the grass, creating a pool of leaf shreds on her lap. “I figured if I tried something new he might keep me in mind a bit better.”

“Lily, I can tell you that during the past six summers you were out of sight, but you certainly weren’t out of his mind. So I can’t imagine this summer, or fall, or winter would be any different.”

Remus could tell a smile was creeping up on her face as she continued looking at a piece of grass. 

“And what about the spring?”

“If you’re not married by the spring, I’ll be shocked.”

Lily began brushing away the grass on her skirt, although Remus could tell she was blushing at his comment. 

He looked back down at the lake and saw that Hagrid was on his way to the castle and the boys were making their way up the hill to where he was sitting. 

“Although Lily,” he whispered. 

Lily looked up attentively.

“Sirius does sometimes pull my hair back so he can look at me when we’re…”

Their eyes met, Lily’s wide with disbelief, his crinkled from the mischievous smile he held. They both knew if the boys had been any closer they would have heard his remark.

“Remus!” she squealed in delight to his racy confession. 

“I hope you’re not corrupting my girlfriend, Lupin,” James said as he plopped down on his side next to Lily. James made sure to say ‘my girlfriend’ as much as possible, in order to establish that Lily was in fact  _his_  girlfriend. Peter took a seat next to Remus and Sirius sat with his back to the lake, facing the group.

“Not possible, Prongs. She’s already been corrupted by you and those awful letters you send her,” Remus replied. He kept his eyes on Sirius as the boy began picking daisies that were within his reach.

“Letters?” Peter said, leaning forward to look at the couple as James scoffed.

“Now, now, boys,” Lily began, petting James’ unruly hair as a means of comforting him. “You know James’ ego can only take one blow per day, and after the savagery that took place at lunch, I don’t think he’ll be able to handle much more today.”

“His ego isn’t the only thing that can only take one blow per day,” Sirius quipped. Peter and Remus let out a laugh, while Lily tried her hardest to hold one back.

James placed his hand over his forehead and fell backwards dramatically. 

“And on this day, April 21st, 1978, James Potter’s ego died at the edge of the Black Lake,” Peter said solemnly, but without missing a beat. “His dearest friends –” 

James perked up, his hand raised, “I’m actually the deer-est person here, so if another adjective could be used, that would be great.” He then laid back down to his original position.

“His  _most loved_ friends will miss his ego, however rumor has it that Miss. Minerva McGonagall was seen dancing at the news of its death,” Peter finished.

They all chuckled at the speech before James rose again. He and Lily shared a peck, while Peter closed his eyes and leaned back, clearly enjoying the sun. Remus continued to watch Sirius as he charmed the flowers he had picked to arrange themselves into a daisy chain. He was purposely ignoring Remus’ gaze, teasing him with a lack of interest.

“A crown for the queen of Hogwarts.” Sirius held the flower crown out towards Lily.

She took it and placed it gently on her boyfriend’s head. “And somehow it manages to fit on his majesty’s big head,” she mused.

“That’s enough out of you,” James said, picking a grass speck off of her shirt, but noticeably leaving the crown on. He then fished a cigarette out of his shirt pocket and placed it between lips as he went for his wand.

“Smoke that and our study date tonight is off,” Lily muttered. The boys all knew that was code for ‘If you smoke that your mouth isn’t going anywhere near mine for the rest of the day’. Lily hated smoking and was especially harsh with punishing younger students who she caught doing it, and while she knew she couldn’t control what most of her friends did, James was willing to oblige her requests about the habit.

Sirius leaned over and took the cigarette out of James mouth before he could protest. “A light please, Peter.” He moved towards Peter, the cigarette hanging out of his mouth as Peter’s wand lit the end.

They sat in silence as Sirius took a few drags. Remus continued eyeing him. He watched as the smoke escape his mouth and laced the air around him, before Sirius brought the cigarette back to his mouth and inhaled deeply. 

Remus’ eyes stayed on his partner as he leaned forward and plucked the cigarette from his hand. Finally, Sirius looked up at the boy while he sat back into his spot.

“Peter, what was that about a date you have later today?” Lily enquired, looking over to the boy.

Remus and Sirius held each others’ gazes as Remus smoked and the conversation surrounding Peter’s date continued.

When the two were feeling feisty they often did this – keeping their eyes locked on each other while conversations buzzed around them. It was the closest thing they could get to open PDA without outing themselves. As Remus exhaled he moved his head to avoid Lily, however he kept his eyes on Sirius as the cloud of smoke diffused through the air.

Sirius stared at Remus in the same way that Padfoot looked at a piece of meat – hungry and ready to devour it. It had only been a few hours since they last shared a moment alone together, but recently the couple had been eager to find time for each other. Remus attributed it to the stress from the end of the year, but Sirius insisted it was the nice weather.

“Maybe you ought to stop agonizing over the details over this damned date, and start getting ready for it if you want it to go so well.” Sirius broke his silence and his gaze as he turned to Peter. The shorter boy had been explaining what he was planning on doing on his upcoming date and why it would be more successful than past encounters.

Peter responded with a glare before checking the time and agreeing that he should go. Remus handed him the cigarette to finish and the group wished him luck as he left. They genuinely wanted him to have a good time considering the thought he put into the whole thing.

“Well, Moony, we should leave these lovebirds alone,” Sirius said. He stood up and adjusted his clothes before offering Remus and hand to help him up. “The sun will be setting soon and Mr. Romance over here is probably depending on the moment to keep Evans interested in him.”

“Oh shove off, Black,” Lily defended her boyfriend playfully.

Sirius continued as Remus pulled on his robes and collected his bag, “Prongs, after graduation you should apply to write for the Daily Witch. I heard they need someone for their love column.”

“I’m certainly qualified for it, right Lils?” James replied as Remus and Sirius slowly began their ascent to the castle.

“We’ll have wait to see what Peter says, won’t we?” Lily winked towards the boys, who were still facing them, as she ducked away from one of James’ advances.

Sirius and Remus smiled in response. “Bye, you two,” Remus hollered as he turned. There were still loads of students outside, meaning that hopefully one of their secret snogging spots would be free to use. 

“So,” Sirius began, looking at Remus with a devilish gleam in his eyes. “What was that about James’ letters?”

Remus just grinned and put an arm around Sirius’ neck as he led him towards one of the aforementioned snogging spots. “I’ll tell you later.”

**Author's Note:**

> James Potter referring to Lily as "my girlfriend" is clearly taken from John Mulaney's quip about his wife, but we all know James would act this way so I had to include it.


End file.
